Flat side UP against the rubber seat that sits against the subframe. The lower control arm is shaped to accept the bottom of the spring and will fit only one way. Upon reassembly, before the bottom side of the spring and the lower arm make contact, rotate the spring until it fits "snugly" in that lower control arm. You'll see the contour and how it fits.

It sounds as if you're making some real progress. If only I could get mine to move as quickly! Best of luck.

Yes, that does make good sense, especially if you're using a floor jack to push it all together. I always use an internal spring compressor and it moves around a lot while I'm loosening the bolt and I end up having to rotate it back into place.

Just wanted to say "thank you" for all the helpful advice above. Cannot imagine doing this without the tips of others. Got new front springs, shocks, tie rod ball joints and steering boots replaced. As was mentioned above, using two floor jacks when reassembling helps line up the shock bracket, castor rod and lower control arm so you can drop in those two bolts. For what it's worth, I kept the solitary inboard shock mounting bolt attached to the shock mounting plate, although loosened. The shock was still able to fall out between the two halves of the mounting bracket. Doing this seemed to make aligning the two outboard mounting bolts fairly easy on assembly.

Finally three days and the front springs and shocks are installed. The PO rounded most of the nuts on the front end. Between a file, vice grips, hammer and chisel a little heat and plenty of blaster I managed to get it all apart. little red is riding a little higher and much smother due to the Bilstein shocks. The rear springs and shocks were a cake walk compared to the front. But all is well that ends well. Thanks again to Greg for having the Bilsteins available.